Title:
UAE, Other Nations Target BlackBerry for Access
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
BlackBerry service is facing limits or bans in some
countries over the issue of government access to
information on its network. Research in Motion, or
RIM, makes BlackBerry communications devices. They
run on the company's network and secure software.
The company is based in Waterloo, Canada. BlackBerry
has forty-six million users worldwide. In August,
the United Arab Emirates announced it would block
BlackBerry e-mail, web browsing and instant
messenger services on October eleventh. The UAE says
the services are a threat to national security
because government officials cannot access or
monitor users' information. Then, Saudi Arabia
threatened to block BlackBerry service in August.
But later, a telecommunications official reportedly
said it would allow service to continue in the
country because of "positive developments."These
moves renew concern among some people about efforts
by the UAE and Saudi Arabia to control the flow of
information. Both countries have banned some forms
of media seen as harming national security. The ban
in the UAE could affect half a million BlackBerry
users. Saudi Arabia has about seven hundred thousand
users. Kuwait and Lebanon are also said to be
considering restrictions. But Middle Eastern
countries are not the only ones seeking greater
access to BlackBerry information. India and China
are among other countries also doing so.
Governments, big corporations and individuals use
BlackBerry devices because they are highly secure.
Users' communications are sent to servers overseas,
mostly in Canada, using powerful security measures.
RIM says its system is set up in a way that no one,
including RIM, can access user information. The
company also says it does not matter where their
servers are based. Communications are made secure
the moment they leave the BlackBerry device through
encryption.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said
the United States will hold talks with the UAE and
other countries about possible bans on BlackBerry
services. She said the United States knows there are
reasonable security concerns about the service. But
she added that there is also a right of free use and
access.And that's the VOA Special English Economics
Report. You can find transcripts, MP3s and podcasts
on our website, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also
find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at VOA
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personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
